Would Katniss Everdeen have what it takes to hunt zombies?

By Jef Rouner |
May 22, 2013
| Updated: May 22, 2013 4:33pm

Zombie killers could learn a few things about bow hunting from Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) from "The Hunger Games."

Do you have a zombie plan? No, you don't, because you are reading this and not making sure that you're ready for the legions of undead who will rise to devour you and your loved ones. A lot of fans of "The Walking Dead" just assume when the time comes, they'll automatically be a sharp-shooting Daryl Dixon. It's not that easy. Luckily, one woman at Comicpalooza can help make sure you put the arrow in the ghoul and not your own fool head.

Samantha Inoue-Harte is a woman Comicpalooza founder Josh Simons calls the Zombie Queen of Texas. She has an impressive résumé as a actor in films such as "Sin City," a voice actress in "Final Fantasy: Unlimited" (She's the Chocobo!), a special-effects artist for Robert Rodriguez and Guillermo Del Toro, and the head of the animation house Saiko Studios.

She's also the Army-brat daughter of a Vietnam War field medic - shooting guns since the age of 9 and taking survival courses all her life. At Comicpalooza, she'll be offering her fellow geeks basic instruction in both archery and gun safety.

"Oddly enough, the biggest misconception about archery is that a lot of people think that they can shoot like the girl from "Hunger Games" as soon as they pick up a bow," said Ioune-Harte. "It takes practice. More often than not, people end up hurting themselves when trying out the bow for the first time. So, my main goal with the bow is to make sure people can do it without hurting themselves."

According to Max Brooks' "Zombie Survival Guide," bows offer long-range attack that has the benefit of being silent so as to not attract the attention of other baddies. Nonetheless, only the most skilled archers should count a bow as a primary distance weapon because hitting a moving human head is an expert skill. Crossbows offer better stopping power, but at the expense of speed and range.

Ioune-Hart prefers the crowbar as a zombie killer because of its versatility, but would never be without a gun during the undead Armageddon.

"I like my Henry Big Boy lever-action rifle because it is highly accurate when on the move, easy to fix and relatively light," said Ioune-Harte.